If the first and only parameter is an array, min()
returns the lowest value in that array. If at least two parameters are
provided, min() returns the smallest of these values.
Note:
Values of different types will be compared using the
standard comparison rules. For instance, when a non-numeric string is
compared to an int, the int is cast to string and the
values are compared as strings; before PHP 8.0.0 the string was cast to
int instead. Multiple non-numeric string values are also compared as
strings. The actual value returned will be of the original type with no conversion applied.
Caution
Be careful when passing arguments of different types because
min() can produce unpredictable results.
min() returns the parameter value considered "lowest" according to standard
comparisons. If multiple values of different types evaluate as equal (e.g. 0
and false) the first provided to the function will be returned.
Errors/Exceptions
If an empty array is passed, min() throws a ValueError.
Changelog
Version
Description
8.0.0
min() throws a ValueError on failure now;
previously, false was returned and an E_WARNING error was emitted.
8.0.0
As
string to number comparisons were changed,
min() no longer returns a
different value based on the argument order in those cases.
Examples
Example #1 Example uses of min()
<?php
echo min(2, 3, 1, 6, 7), PHP_EOL; // 1
echo min(array(2, 4, 5)), PHP_EOL; // 2
// 'hello' is a non-numeric string, so -1 is cast to the string "-1" and the
// values are compared as strings: "-1" is lower than "hello"
echo min('hello', -1), PHP_EOL; // -1
// With multiple arrays of different lengths, min returns the shortest
$val = min(array(2, 2, 2), array(1, 1, 1, 1)); // array(2, 2, 2)
var_dump($val);
// Multiple arrays of the same length are compared from left to right
// so in our example: 2 == 2, but 4 < 5
$val = min(array(2, 4, 8), array(2, 5, 1)); // array(2, 4, 8)
var_dump($val);
// If both an array and non-array are given, the array is never returned
// as comparisons treat arrays as greater than any other value
// Of the remaining values, 42 is cast to the string "42" when compared with the
// non-numeric string 'string', and "42" is lower than "string"
$val = min('string', array(2, 5, 7), 42); // 42
var_dump($val);
// If one argument is NULL or a boolean, it will be compared against
// other values using the rules FALSE < TRUE and NULL == FALSE regardless of the
// other types involved
// In the below examples, both -10 and 10 are treated as TRUE in the comparison
$val = min(-10, FALSE, 10); // FALSE
var_dump($val);
$val = min(-10, NULL, 10); // NULL
var_dump($val);
// 0, on the other hand, is treated as FALSE, so is "lower than" TRUE
$val = min(0, TRUE); // 0
var_dump($val);
?>
max
Math Functions